Originally Posted by
pokee
I'm in the same boat as you - booked a 2 Queen Makai mountain side room - but I'm paying with cold hard cash (groan). I thought about switching to a Hale Ike room, but then I remembered reading reviews that the Makai building location was just better/more convenient.
What I'm thinking of doing is selecting the e-upgrade to Makai oceanside for $62 (not a bad deal considering the Oceanside Makai room rates are currently $100+ more than my booked rate). But, I'm not sure if I want an ocean view that badly - especially considering I'm Canadian and I'm gonna get stuck paying another 35-40% extra on top of the exorbitant amount I'm already paying...
Feel bad I didn't see this in a timely manner. In the future, know that you can cancel your original reservation (assuming you did not book the non-refundable rooms) Make sure you are signed up for email notifications and watch for better offers before your stay. They just had a Flash Sale that offered some excellent values on this property. You could have snagged exactly what you wanted for quite a bit less and then cancelled your original reservation without penalty. Also, be sure to sign up for all of the various bonus offers through the HH website that they have right now. Log into your Hilton Honors account and look under the offers tab. Current ones that have come to my e-mail or are available in my HH account are 1000 bonus points when using your American Express, 10,000 points for a two night stay, and I'm sure that there are other targeted ones via e-mail. One thing you can pretty much count on nowadays at the Hilton Waikoloa, is that you will not be upgraded at the front desk - even as a Diamond. I used to have pretty good luck prior to a couple of years ago. Oh the stories I could tell about my last visit in January. However, if you don't like your room or do find something "wrong with it", and would really like to be upgraded without paying, go complain about something to the Hilton Honors desk. They guarantee to "make it right" which they did for me (Asphalt room in the Lagoon Tower (seriously the WORST room I've ever been in) to the Ocean and Lagoon view). Hope this helps - at least for next time.